Mendoza's Epiphany
by Hetep-Heres
Summary: In Spain and countries of Spanish culture, gifts are not brought to children on December 25th by either Santa Claus or Father Christmas, but on January 6th by the Three Wise Men. This time Mendoza has a plan for the Twelfth Night of Christmas, but this year the new local outlaw Zorro will make an unexpected appearance in a way even Diego and Felipe didn't envisage!
1. Ch 1 : Mendoza's plan

**Chapter one : Mendoza's plan**

In a few hours would begin the Twelfth Night of Christmas, and almost nothing was ready. Diego cursed himself inwardly. Of course Felipe was not exactly a child anymore now, so he didn't believe that gifts were brought by the three Reyes Magos, but still. Diego expected the first Epiphany he would spend at home and with his loved ones in five years to be perfect. But in the excitement of coming back from Spain, creating a masked outlaw and making him take shape and live a life of adventures, of danger and of secrecy, he hadn't seen the past months fly by. Advent had arrived and culminated with Christmas without him understanding how these four weeks could have felt like hardly more than four days, then came and went the feast of the Sagrada Familia, and tomorrow would already be the day of the Kings.

And the present he had ordered for Felipe – a bit too late, he admitted – hadn't arrived on time. Damn. Good thing the boy was fourteen now, because Diego would have had a hard time explaining to the child Felipe still was before he left for Spain why the Magi had forgotten him or why they were late while gifts were delivered on time to other children in the pueblo.

And not only that, but Diego was also late in making the few toys he was supposed to give to the padre for the orphans of the mission. Each rich family had been asked to provide presents for a couple of children each, but the carpenter had been ill lately and couldn't make the toys Diego intended to order from him. As a result, on top of keeping alive the brand new myth he had recently created – in addition to keeping himself alive, literally – Diego decided to make these presents with his own hands.

But the miniature cart he had been working on lately still didn't have wheels, the wooden jumping-jack he had painted in the morning still needed assembling, and the hobby-horse needed a coat of paint as well as another of varnish, and time enough to dry...

Thank God Felipe had been a great help with sawing and sanding the pieces of wood following Diego's patterns and instructions, and even Don Alejandro had helped and didn't even lamented that his son spent far too much time on tinkering with all these knick-knacks: but indeed his father understood how important these presents would be for the children, so for once he approved of his son's trivial new kind of pastimes and occupation.

Now the three of them were in the courtyard putting siesta time to good use by trying to finish all this on time instead of taking a nap.

The sound of hooves interrupted his thoughts and he raised his head to look at the newcomers. His father did the same while Felipe, well-trained not to show any sign that he could hear these kind of things, apparently kept his whole focus on the string he was trying to tie to the inner part of the wooden puppet's shoulder.

Sergeant Mendoza entered the courtyard, followed by Victoria Escalante, and they both looked in a hurry. Diego frowned: did alcalde Ramone devise a new scheme to extort some more money from either the poor farmers or the shopkeepers, just on time to ruin the joy of Epiphany day for them – and incidentally for Zorro too?

"Don Alejandro, I'm so glad to find you home," Victoria said, confirming Diego's worries. "Sergeant Mendoza has something to ask you."

 _Mendoza?_

Diego looked at the soldier: he looked rather uneasy and hesitant. Victoria, on the other hand, now looked more excited than incensed, and more expectant than worried. An encouraging smile even grazed her lips when she elbowed the sergeant:

"Come on Sergeant, tell Don Alejandro of your idea, it's such a nice one!"

Mendoza still looked a bit awkward but also pleased at Victoria's praise, so he straightened himself and looked at Don Alejandro in his eyes.

"Don Alejandro, I thought... er... Well, I remembered..."

He paused, and Victoria elbowed him again.

"Don Alejandro, I don't know if you are aware of this, but I grew up in an orphanage..."

Diego saw his father nod slowly and he kept this piece of information in mind: he was beginning to like this sergeant who obviously didn't really approve of all of his alcalde's doings and schemes, and Diego was sometimes feeling sorry for the tricks Zorro was playing on him and on his soldiers. Although he was serving under Luis Ramone, Sergeant Mendoza wasn't that bad and Diego regretted he had to physically fight this man and to make him look bad and be punished by his boss.

"Yes, Sergeant...?" Don Alejandro gently encouraged the soldier who was probably impressed that he had a request to present to a man who was probably the most prominent figure in Los Angeles after alcalde Luis Ramone.

"Well... I remember how I was feeling at this time of the year, when I was a child... at first I expected the Reyes Magos to bring me a family with parents and siblings, but then... since I didn't get this, year after year, Epiphany after Epiphany, I started doubting their existence, even though we were getting presents at the orphanage... Presents just like the ones you are making for the mission," he added, pointing at the toys they had been working on when he arrived.

Diego gently smiled at him.

"This is a very nice and kind thing you are doing for the orphans Don Diego, Don Alejandro..." Mendoza went on. "But as I said, I started to doubt the Kings' existence when I was five or six, and yet more than any other child the orphans need to dream and to believe that there is someone else than the padre or the nuns who care about them. _Personally_ , I mean, even if it is only once a year. So I thought..."

He paused again.

"Come on Sergeant," Victoria said, "I told you Don Alejandro would approve of your idea so don't be shy! I even came with you, but it is _your_ idea so it is better that _you_ submit it to him..."

"Alright," Mendoza said. "I thought that perhaps if the orphans in the mission could spot the Three Wise Men from a distance tonight at dusk before going to bed, before they find these toys near their shoes tomorrow morning, it would help them keep hope and faith that they too are loved and cared for..."

Diego was moved by the man's words and couldn't help a gentle smile.

"Oh Sergeant, this is such a lovely idea!"

"Isn't it?" Victoria rhetorically asked.

"Indeed," Don Alejandro echoed while Felipe nodded approvingly. "But how do you suggest you can manage that, and where do I fit in this?"

"Well, at first I simply thought I would find a large coat, a cloak and a roll a long scarf or shawl around my head, and I went to the tavern to ask Señorita Escalante to lend me a pair of bedsheets and a shawl. But it would have still been only _one_ king, and on a horse instead of a camel. That's when Señorita Escalante had an idea..."

He turned to her.

"Yes, I offered to play the second king, and to find a mean to transform a horse into a camel. But now we still lack the third Wise Man, you see..." Victoria said, gazing meaningfully at Don Alejandro.

"And a third camel..." Mendoza added. "So the señorita suggested that I ask you to please accept to be this third man tonight, Don Alejandro..." he expectantly explained.

"That will be an honour, Sergeant," Diego heard his father tell them. "And you know what? For once we can even put to use some of the futile things my son became fascinated with during the four years he spent in Spain."

Diego swallowed the disparaging comment or backhanded compliment without blinking an eye and turned to his father.

"What do you have in mind, Father?"

Don Alejandro smiled.

"Remember this theatre play on the Passion you told me about? Well, with a few of our curtains, some safety pins, long horsehair, glue and make-up I trust you can transform me, Mendoza and even our lovely Victoria here into Reyes Magos with long patriarch's beards..."

Felipe clapped his hands to get attention and enthusiastically added that he would take care of the horses.

"And you will need an accomplice inside the mission to get the children's attention," Diego stated, "and to point it at the three of you in the distance... I will play this part."

Felipe pointed at himself, meaning that he too would take care of the children.

"Wonderful," Victoria said. "You see Sergeant, I told you the de la Vega's heart is even bigger than their land is vast... Muchas gracias Don Alejandro, and gracias to you too Don Diego. I am sorry I have to leave now, but I still have to finish the candied fruits I'll bring tomorrow morning to the mission for the children, and I still have to prepare the Rosca de Reyes for them tonight. You can drop by at the tavern after dinner to magically turn me into one of the Three Wise Men, Don Diego. Thanks again and see you tonight, Señores."

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

"Your son is a true magician, Don Alejandro," said the long bearded man who came down the stairs of the tavern after closing time in a voice which disturbingly sounded like Victoria Escalante's.

Alejandro had to blink twice to be sure of what he was seeing. A real magician indeed, because except the very short height of this third wise man, nothing betrayed the fact that somewhere under this guise was a twenty-something young girl. As long as she kept silent of course. The same kind of long tousled beard as the one Diego had glued on his cheeks and chin was hiding Victoria's lovely lower face and cascading down her chest, over an artistically draped velvet double curtain which Alejandro recognised as his library's one. Victoria's beard was black, though, matching the natural colour of her hair while Diego had used for his father grey horsehair cut from one of the mares in his stables. Poor beast! But it would grow long again, and that was for a good cause after all.

Around her head Diego had improvised a turban by rolling her flowered shawl and her lace mantilla together. It went low down her forehead to her eyebrows. Her eyes, just like Alejandro's and Mendoza's, were heavily underlined and even upperlined with black kohl, while her eyelids were covered with dark eyeshadow. Diego had even managed to draw wrinkles and crow's feet to make her look older.

Alejandro recognised his son's silk sash tied around her waist which, for the occasion, had doubled its circumference probably thanks to one small cushion on the front side and one at the back, just like Diego did on him. Alejandro was impressed by his son's inventiveness as far as disguise and dressing-up were concerned. Too bad this boy didn't put so much effort in more useful and less futile areas!

Around Victoria's neck Diego had loosely hung his late mother's very long pearl necklace to add a touch of richness and orientalism to the costume, and Alejandro liked it. He fondly looked down at his own left hand, where he could see an emerald golden ring which formerly belonged to his dear wife. He had to put it around his pinkie, because all his other fingers were too thick for it, and he remembered the feeling of her soft small hand in his large and rough one. He sighed.

"Is something wrong, Don Alejandro?" the bearded king in front of him asked with Victoria's voice.

"Nothing, my dear, nothing. I am glad to see this necklace again, pearls need to be worn to keep their beauty. They have been lying in a box for far too long since my wife died."

"I told Don Diego it is too beautiful for just a disguise, but he insisted. I thought it was too valuable for me to wear it, I supposed the necklace was your wife's, but he didn't tell me so. He simply said it was the perfect final touch and he put it around my neck."

"And he did right. I told you, it needs to be worn by a lovely lady rather than remain in a drawer in Diego's bedroom."

"Not _your_ bedroom?" Victoria asked, surprised.

Alejandro shook his head.

"No. She died without leaving any daughter, so all her jewellery logically went to her only son... waiting to be worn by a daughter-in-law, and then a granddaughter. And what would I do with it, after all? It is better that way. Now Diego is back home and of marriageable age... we'll find the lady worthy of giving a new life to this jewellery. In the meantime it looks truly wonderful on you my dear, even in this guise!"

Diego appeared at the top of the stairs just when his father ended his sentence, and his face showed no sign that he heard the former paternal comment about trying to marry him off now that he was back.

"Congratulations Diego, you worked wonders! You made our lovely Victoria into a convincing Wise Man... But even your talent didn't manage to make her look remotely ugly, even with this beard!"

"Our Victoria, ugly? Ah, Father, nobody is expected to do the impossible..."

The very small part of Victoria's face that was still visible between the fake beard and the turban blushed.

"Oh, Don Diego, this is so sweet... You are such a gentleman!"

Felipe then entered from the kitchen and signed that the horses were ready. They all followed him through the back door and joined Mendoza in the backstreet.

"Victoria, Diego," Alejandro asked with a frown when he saw the sergeant, "wasn't Mendoza with you upstairs?"

"Uh... no, Father. I was already done with him earlier."

Alejandro looked sternly at his son, clearly discontent.

"This is not very proper, Diego. You and Victoria alone upstairs in her bedroom..."

"What!?" Diego said, shocked at his father's insinuation.

"What?!" Victoria echoed. "Don Alejandro, I swear that nothing improper–"

"Of course nothing improper occurred!" Diego almost shouted. "I was just helping her get dressed!"

"You realise how this last sentence could sound like, Diego... A good thing we all know what you truly meant here."

Diego looked at his feet, awkward. He cleared his throat.

"I am sorry, Father, I should have thought... I forgot. I apologise."

"I swear we didn't mean any harm Don Alejandro," Victoria added, "we went upstairs without thinking..."

"Of course the thought never crossed our minds..." Diego echoed.

And suddenly Alejandro inwardly wondered whether he should feel relieved or perhaps _worried_ that _this_ particular thought didn't even cross his son's far too proper mind... Of course Alejandro didn't want his son to act like a cad, but... even if you don't eat at the tavern it is a sign of good health to think about the menu and have your mouth water at the idea of the meal, right? After all, Diego now was a fully grown man, it would be only logical that he'd think what most men think when alone with a young woman in her bedroom...

So in other words, Alejandro didn't want his own flesh and blood to _act_ like a cad, but he'd be a bit relieved to be sure that his son _thought_ like one. In other words, that he thought like just any man!

Except that ever since he came back from Spain several months earlier, never once did he show a particular interest for any of the marriageable young ladies his age of the vicinity. Strange. Did Diego leave part of his heart behind him in Madrid when he was summoned back home? He'd have to question his son about any love interest he could have had during his time there. If it was as Alejandro suspected, he'd leave Diego a whole year for the passing of time to heal his broken young heart before he tries to find the ideal daughter-in-law.

In the mean time, it was a good thing that none but the three of them knew that Diego and Victoria spent a whole quarter of an hour alone in her bedroom after the tavern closed. Alejandro shrugged and crossed the backstreet to join the good-hearted sergeant and Felipe. 'King Mendoza' looked just like Victoria and himself, Alejandro noted. He recognised some of his hacienda's curtains and embroidered bedsheets on him, as well as a few of his wife's jewellery.

"Look, Don Alejandro!" the sergeant enthusiastically said, pointing at their mounts. "Of course they still look like horses, but seen from afar, through the dimness of twilight and by children who never saw a real camel in their life, it can maintain the illusion!"

Alejandro took a closer look at his mare: Felipe had filled bags with either wool or cotton and had tied these to the front and back of the saddle to imitate the camels' humps. Then he had thrown a blanket over it all to cover the horse from ears to hindquarter and he even roughly sewed a yellow braid on the blanket to make it look better.

Mendoza's horse looked more or less the same, as well as Victoria's.

"Very good, Felipe!" Alejandro said, patting the boy's back because it was perhaps a bit too dark now for him to clearly see what anyone's lips were saying.

"Come with me, Felipe," Diego said as he put his hand on his young friend's shoulder, "let's now go to the mission and prepare the children for the Three Wise Men's brief appearance..."

"Have you told the padre about the Sergeant's plan, Son?"

"I did, Father. He approved. And the toys are in the carriage, ready to be unloaded as soon as the kids go to bed. Everything is finally ready."


	2. Ch 2 : The Twelfth Night

**Chapter 2 : The Twelfth Night**

Inside the mission a nice warmth welcomed Diego and Felipe. The padre and one of the nuns brought them sweet wine and asked the children to make some room around the long table for their visitors.

"Good evening Don Diego," most children timidly greeted him. A few of them also waved at Felipe, knowing that he couldn't hear them.

"Good evening, children. Have you already added the Magi and their camels to the Christmas crib?"

"No Don Diego," a little girl who clearly looked like she was a Mestiza answered. "Not yet."

"We are waiting until after we had the roscón de Reyes," a seven or eight years old green-eyed boy added.

"The one who gets the coin which Señorita Escalante hid in it will take the Reyes to the crib," an older girl explained. "And of course tomorrow he or she will then put the coin in the church's poor box before Mass."

How old was she? Ten? Eleven? She would probably have to soon leave the orphanage in order to work as an indenture servant. The mission wasn't rich enough to provide for too many children, so as soon as they could work they were placed as maids or ranch hands in the families around. Some others, if they could remain a bit longer in the orphanage, finally enlisted in the army around fifteen years old, just like Sergeant Mendoza did according to what Victoria told him earlier that day. Again, Diego realised how lucky he was: although he lost his mother rather young he grew up with his father, and his family had enough money for him not to worry about his own future and material situation.

"Well," the padre said, "Don Diego and Felipe have come to share the King cake with us. Julio, could you please get two plates for them? Filomena, take the knife and cut the cake."

"What if I accidentally find the coin while cutting the roscón?"

"Then you push it further inside the piece of cake," Diego said, "and you turn the plate twice or thrice with your eyes closed in order to forget in which piece it is..."

"Sounds like you have a long experience of cutting the king's cake, Don Diego," the padre told him.

"Indeed I have. Now, who's the youngest here?"

"That would be Jorge," the padre answered, waving at a two years old Indian boy. "But he is obviously too young for distributing the cake. The same goes for Josefina and even for Tomás. What about Ana Rosa?"

"Oh yes, yes!" a little Indian girl enthusiastically approved, clapping her hands in anticipation.

Ana Rosa, probably. How old could she be? Four? Yes, certainly something like that. When the padre nodded Ana Rosa disappeared under the table and Julio put a plate before Diego. Filomena took the first piece of cake and asked aloud, for all to hear:

"Whom is this one for?"

"For the padre!" came the answer from under the table.

Filomena placed the cake in the padre's plate, then she took a second piece and asked further:

"And this one...?"

"For Sister Maricruz!"

The distribution went on. Halfway into it Ana Rosa attributed the next piece of cake to 'the boy who doesn't speak'.

"His name is Felipe," the padre told the girl.

Once the last part of the roscón went to Julio's plate Ana Rosa came out from under the table and they all eagerly sank their teeth in Victoria's delicious orange blossom flavoured pastry. Out of the corner of his eye, though, Diego spotted Felipe look at the side of his serving of cake. Then the boy elbowed the young child on his left side and signed something, pointing at his own plate.

"He's telling you that he finds his piece of cake too big for his modest appetite and offers to swap with your smaller one," Diego translated.

"Do you think it is really smaller? It doesn't look that different to me."

But Felipe insisted that yes, it was smaller, and the child was too tempted by Victoria's wonderful roscón to give up an opportunity to eat a bit more than the average share of it, so he swapped their plates.

Diego looked through the window, expecting to see his father, Mendoza and Victoria appear on the plaza any minute. But there was still no one to be seen there, probably because they chose to give them time enough to share the cake.

"It's me, it's me, I have the coin!" the little boy sitting right beside Felipe suddenly shouted. "Look!"

And he pulled it out of his mouth. So this was what Felipe had been doing with his cake, and why he had swapped it with one of the children's: he had spotted the coin in his piece of roscón and kindly chose to give to his young neighbour the joy of finding it.

Diego smiled fondly: his father did a great job in raising the boy during the four long years he had been gone.

"I am the King!" the child happily said, beaming. A few of the other kids scowled a bit: everyone liked to get the coin, and they would have to wait until next year to try again.

The boy cleaned the coin and put it in his pocket for the night, to be sure to still have it at Mass in the morning.

"The Wise Men, the Wise Men! I will add them to the crib!"

"Go Flavio, go, they are in the kitchen, on the table."

The child soon came back with three wooden figures wrapped in colourful cloaks made with scraps of fabric tied around their necks. Flavio respectfully put them near the manger in the Christmas crib, in a corner of the room.

"Very nice!" the padre said. "Now finish your cake, all of you, and then you can prepare the bread for the Magi and the water for their camels."

Filomena put her plate down on the floor, near the door, and both Ana Rosa and another boy did the same. Tomás brought some bread and put a piece of it in each plate while the ten years-old girl poured water in three bowl.

When they were finished with that Felipe pointed at the window and patted Julio's forearm. Diego glanced through the window and smiled.

"Oh, look," he told the kids, "here they are!"

"Who...?" Filomena and Flavio both asked.

"Whom do you think I am talking about, on this particular night? Go have a look for yourself!"

And the children gathered at the window, glued to it.

"Hey, let me see! You're too tall, I can't see a thing!" Ana Rosa complained.

"Wanna see, wanna see, wanna see!" Jorge chanted hopping up and down.

Suddenly Felipe grabbed the little boy around his waist to lift him up and Diego did the same with Ana Rosa.

In the distance, three shadows could be seen slowly crossing the plaza, riding strange humped creatures. They stopped and pointed at the mission, waving in their direction. The kids happily shouted and waved back, overexcited. Then one of the Magi made the gesture of putting his head on an imaginary pillow he figured with his joined hands, and he waved again.

"He said it is soon time to go to bed," Sister Lucia told the children. "Get ready now."

But the kids remained glued to the window until the Reyes Magos disappeared behind the high wall of the cuartel.

"Children...!" the padre reminded them. "Up to bed, now. And don't forget to leave your shoes near the crib!"

Not a chance any of them would forget, Diego thought. They were all so eager! He looked at them as they hastily untied their sandals and carefully put them around the crib. Then with all the overexcitement of the night it was a bit hard to put these little ones to bed but in the end the nuns and the padre managed, with Felipe's and Diego's help.

Felipe sighed and discreetly signed to Diego that it was more exhausting than any of the missions he ever did for Zorro. And Diego inwardly agreed that perhaps yes, it was more tiring than any of Zorro's exploits.

"But before we can go to bed too, and now that any potentially prying eyes are closed, we can bring the few toys we made to the padre and the nuns: they will know whom to give each of these to."

And while they handed the presents to Sister Maria de la Cruz, the padre picked up the bread from the plates, taking great care to leave some visible crumbs in it, and Sister Lucia emptied the bowls to make it look as though the camels had lapped it up.

Everything was ready: the Three Wise Men had come and put presents under the children's sandals, they had eaten what the niños left for them and their camels had something to drink before getting on with their long night of work. Everything was perfect.

Or almost: if only the present for Felipe could have been delivered on time!


	3. Ch 3 : El día de los Reyes

**Chapter 3 : El día de los Reyes**

The next day, it was far less difficult than any other morning to get the children to get up. Sister Maria de la Cruz smiled, remembering her own excitement on that same date each year when she was their age.

Their eyes shone when they entered the room and saw that presents had appeared in or near their shoes. For a whole minute there were only cries of joy and excited exclamation all over the place. That's why at first no one heard a knocking noise on the door. Whoever was on the other side of it insisted and Sister Lucia went to open it.

"Sergeant! How nice of you to come for a visit. Please come in!"

"Gracias Sister, gracias. Here are oranges for the children," he said raising a burlap sack in his hand.

"Oranges! How wonderful Sergeant!"

She turned to the kids.

"Children! Children! Look, Sergeant Mendoza brought you oranges!"

Another burst of happy shouts welcomed her words.

The little ones were happily sinking their teeth in the tasty fruits when Sister Maria de la Cruz noticed something on Mendoza's cheeks:

"Sergeant, what is this rash you have here? There was nothing there when I met you on the plaza yesterday... Did you eat something which didn't agree with you?"

Mendoza was rescued from having to find an explanation by another knock on the door.

"Señorita Escalante!" Sister Maria de la Cruz greeted her. "Please come in and have one of the delicious oranges the sergeant brought us."

"Muchas gracias Sister, Sergeant."

"What do you have here my child?" the padre asked her, pointing at the parcel she was carrying.

"Oh, with all the excitement I couldn't sleep last night, so I made another rosca de Reyes for the children."

"Oh really? You are spoiling us Señorita..."

"Well, I know there are more than a few sweet teeth around here."

"Look Sister," Josefina chipped in, "Señorita Escalante has the same rosy blotches as Sergeant Mendoza!"

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

Sergeant Mendoza saw the señorita instinctively raise a hand to her cheek and she whispered to him:

"Damn Don Diego! If he were here, I'd tell him exactly what I think of his supposedly miraculous theatre glue! Aaaargh, I spent the night alternatively scratching my neck and applying cool wet washcloths to my cheeks."

Speak of the devil and he appears... The de la Vegas, father and son, showed up with their young deaf-mute.

"Buenos días Sisters, Padre..." Don Alejandro joyfully said. "We were up earlier today, even Diego, so we thought we'd drop by before Mass to see if everything is all right..." he added, winking at the padre.

"I think it is..." the priest answered, "the niños haven't opened their presents yet. By the way Sergeant, do you know that we caught a glimpse of the Three Wise Men last night?"

Mendoza smiled.

"Did you really?" he wryly asked.

Many happy and overenthusiastic noisy confirmations came from the children in a burst of high-pitched voices and Mendoza discretely winked at Señorita Escalante who smiled in return. The sergeant felt tremendously happy that his modest idea brought so much joy to those who were so used to feel left-behind. He remembered so vividly how he felt when he was a child... Not that he was unhappy at the orphanage, no... the padres had always been very kind and had provided him with a good education as well as good principles. But there had always been lacking something: parents, and the feeling of being a member of a family. The certainty that even once he'd be an adult there would still be someone who'd think about him, who'd care about him. He knew he couldn't give this to these children either, but at least he hoped he had managed to create future good memories for them.

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

Diego noticed Victoria elbowing Mendoza and whispering something in his ear. Then they both stared at his father's face and he understood why when he took a better look at their skin: oh yes, they were probably going to give him the same unhappy speech about the glue he used on them for their fake beards... But hey, couldn't any of them understand that even the greatest scientists in history failed hundred of attempts or had to explore many wrong hypotheses before they made any successful discovery?

Alright, alright, he'd have to test the further versions of his glue before he tries it on either of them again... Perhaps next time Felipe would agree to be his guinea-pig...?

"And now niños," the padre said, "before getting ready for Mass, let's look at what the Reyes Magos brought you."

An explosion wouldn't have made more noise, Diego thought, and he noticed that this time Felipe had some trouble remaining stone-faced: the children's ear-splitting screeches were apparently too much for even the supposedly deaf boy's trained impassibility.

"What is this?" Ana Rosa asked, holding a small brown paper bag in her hand.

"Just look inside," Victoria answered.

"Oh, candied fruits!"

Pleased exclamations echoed when the other children discovered the same sort of bag in their own shoes.

"Wise Men very kind!" little Jorge babbled.

"Indeed," Diego whispered in Victoria's ear, "very kind."

And he shot her a knowing smile to which she responded with a discreet wink.

Ana Rosa then tore another brown paper and discovered her present:

"Oh, a nice doll!"

The large smile on the girl's face and the stars in her eyes were the best reward Felipe could have dreamed of when he took the initiative to make this rag doll out of his own frayed and worn old shirt. He had solidly sewn the buttons he used for the eyes, for fear a young child would pull on these, he used many bits of black cotton thread to make the hair, and cross-stitched the lips with red wool.

Diego patted the young man's shoulder. The boy had really left childhood behind him during his absence, and without being a grown-up yet he had turned into a teenager who now took good care of the younger and weaker ones... It made Diego very happy, but a bit nostalgic too: tempus fugit... and he knew he completely missed Felipe's past four years of growing up from childhood to teenage. He supposed his father deserved almost all the credit for how nicely this transition resulted in the responsible young man Diego was currently watching.

He took a good look around the place. Victoria was showing to Jorge what was happening when she pulled on the string of the jumping-jack, Mendoza was crouching near a little boy who was eagerly tearing the brown paper around his parcel, and his father was helping a six-years-old decipher the greeting card joined to the gift.

He joined Mendoza and little Julio on the floor just as the child pulled his present out of the paper wrapped around it.

"Oh!" Julio exclaimed, "fantastic!"

A bunch of slightly tatty dark velvet was rolled in the boy's hands but apparently it was making sense to him. Soon, Diego too identified what it was when Julio unbunched it and his jaw dropped.

"Look, Sister, look, Sergeant: a Zorro costume! There is even a sword!" he marvelled, discovering a wooden sword.

And young Julio grabbed a black kerchief in which two slits had been cut and even oversewed almost like very large buttonholes. He tied it behind his head, draped the black velvet around his shoulders and seized his wooden sword.

"En garde, Sergeant, I am Zorro and I will fight for the people and punish the meanies!"

Diego was stunned. When he created Zorro, the last thing he thought was that children would want to imitate him or that the outfit he made up would then become a coveted toy for the niños of Los Angeles! He was so stupefied that he didn't notice Felipe's equally surprised look and almost didn't hear Victoria's happy giggle.

He snapped out of it just in time to catch the words the padre murmured in her ear:

"I now understand why you asked for the old frayed funeral bunting, my child. That's quite an unusual use for it."

"I know, and I am sorry Padre... Considering its first destination, it may indeed seem a bit tasteless, or even morbid, but... look at Julio's smile! He doesn't need to know where the material comes from, does he?"

Diego turned to them: "No he doesn't," he agreed with Victoria. "And after all this old bunting was so frayed that it had been replaced last year, so why leave it be eaten by moths in a cupboard?"

The padre sighed a bit and then he agreed with them.

But not everyone was so pleased with Victoria's initiative. Sergeant Mendoza for instance was having conflicted feelings at watching a child be so admiring of the soldiers' new enemy and at seeing the boy be so enthusiastic at the idea of impersonating him, even for fun. Mendoza probably remembered the punches the outlaw threw at him, or the day Zorro cut his breeches to have him look ridiculous with his pants around his ankles. It seemed that Zorro's favourite game was to make him look like a fool, so the children's worship of the outlaw left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Still, they were only kids so he forced a smile on his lips and swallowed his resentment.

The little girl beside them wasn't too pleased either, but for a totally different reason:

"Hey, Julio, why did you get Zorro's costume? I want one too! Take my tea set and give me the outfit!"

"What? No, Filomena, it's mine, and I don't want your stupid doll's saucepan!"

"Let me try the mask on," she insisted.

"No!" the boy stated.

And next thing Diego knew, the frustrated little girl unexpectedly pounced on Julio and tried to take the mask from him, pulling his hair and slapping his chest with her other hand in the process.

"Aw, Filomena, leave me alone!"

Diego and Mendoza reacted quickly and pulled them apart.

"Young girl," Sister Maria de la Cruz scolded her, "this behaviour is very unworthy of someone who would like to dress up like Zorro! Do you think he'd approve?"

In the meantime Julio, whom Mendoza had let go of, grabbed the fake sword and hit Filomena with it – hitting also Diego who had been holding back the girl.

"Julio!" the Padre shouted, taking the toy from his hand, "don't use violence, whatever your quarrel is!"

"But Padre–"

"No 'but', Julio..."

"Sister Maricruz, I am bleeding!" Filomena complained when she noticed that a red liquid was dripping from her nostrils. "You broke my nose, Julio!"

"I didn't break it, you're only bleeding a little bit. And anyway you can never wear Zorro's costume, you're just a girl! Mind your saucepans and leave me alone!"

Filomena growled, wriggled and tried to free herself from Diego's strong grip. To maintain the illusion about his supposed physical weakness he let go of her but immediately regretted he did so, because as soon as the little girl slipped away from his arms she plunged at Julio's leg and sank her teeth in it.

Everyone was now shouting and through the cacophony Diego managed to hear Victoria lament that she had never wanted that when she first had this idea of a present for the orphans.

He caught sight of Felipe's unbelieving face and sighed: he suddenly felt that he had lost control of his own creation. Over the past few months Zorro had somehow gained his independence from his creator and was now having a life of his own in the minds of the Los Angelinos. And considering the appalling result, Diego wasn't totally sure he should feel flattered.


	4. Ch 4 : Mendoza the wise

**Chapter 4 : Mendoza the wise**

After Mass and before they went back home for lunch, the de la Vegas had a drink at the tavern with Sergeant Mendoza.

"Congratulations Sergeant," Don Alejandro said, "the children looked very happy, that's a fine idea you had yesterday. Diego told me that their eyes were shining with joy and wonder when they watched us through the window before going to bed."

Felipe nodded approvingly.

"I'm glad it worked," Mendoza said, "it had exactly the effect I expected, then. I wanted the orphans to feel cared for. Although of course it is obvious that Sister Maria de la Cruz cares for them greatly, and Sister Lucia would give a limb for them. And the padre is such a nice father figure, too..."

The sergeant's childish smile turned so sweet that Victoria melted when she brought them their drinks.

"Oh sergeant, I know I am sometimes a bit harsh to you and your soldiers, but I hope you know I am your friend, although we don't agree on everything..."

"On Zorro, for instance?"

The look in Victoria's eyes turned a bit moony while a scowl marred Mendoza's formerly happy look.

"Zorro..." he dejectedly spat. "Now he has turned into the children's new role model..." he grumbled. "In the past, kids used to dream of becoming soldiers, with a nice uniform and all, and now... in the span of a few months he turned us into the children's laughing stock. And believe me, it is a terrible thing to lose a child's respect!"

Diego didn't dare look at Felipe's face and stared at the moth-eaten wood of the table, not very proud of his creature for the first time ever. He had never thought how he could have hurt the soldiers' feelings as human beings. He would have needed Victoria here, to advocate or her new hero, but she had come back behind her bar. For a split second Diego had forgotten that his father too was one of the new outlaw's fervent admirers:

"Sergeant," Don Alejandro said, "you cannot really blame the children's change of heart on Zorro... Don't you think the alcalde has his share of responsibility in this?"

"Indeed," Diego agreed. "Zorro didn't start this, Sergeant: he is just the symptom and not the cause. Zorro wouldn't even exist if the alcalde had behaved fairly and wisely."

"It seems you are finally beginning to approve of Zorro, Don Diego?" Victoria said as she passed by them with an empty tray. "That is something new."

"I still find very regrettable his resorting to violence, Señorita. I wish there would be no need for it."

"You are still living in your dreams Don Diego..." she replied while Don Alejandro sighed heavily. "Welcome back to America: we are living very far away from the refined, civilised and urbane society you got used to when you were in Madrid. You're now living in the far west: here, might makes right, it is unfortunately the law of the strongest."

"But I don't have to necessary like it," he told her.

"Of course you don't, none of us has to. But our mere dislike of it won't change anything."

"She is right, Diego," his father said. "Only Zorro's sword has been able to change something lately."

"Well," Mendoza bitterly retorted, "I wish he would save the use of his sword for the alcalde only, then, because the more trouble he brings on us, the more soldiers resent him."

To Diego's relief, the conversation took another direction when Mendoza got up and added:

"Well Señores, gracias for the drink but I must now go to the mission again. I'd like to have a word with Julio and with Filomena before lunch. They are probably punished but I hope the nuns will let me see them."

"Punished?" Victoria repeated. "Oh, I can't help but feel responsible: they quarrelled because of the present I made."

"This is not your fault my dear," Don Alejandro said. "It was in fact a nice idea of a gift."

"Too good an idea, even," Diego told her with a wink. "Considering how envious Filomena was of it."

"Still, I feel bad that they are punished because of it: they are only children, and orphaned ones at that!"

"It must never be an excuse for bad behaviours, Señorita," Mendoza objected. "And I know what I am talking about: I have seen more than one bully in my orphanage when I was their age, and being without a family is no reason to ill-treat anyone, or to get away with every misconduct! Quite the contrary, in fact: we know there will be no forgiveness for them once they are all grown-up, and no family to back them up in case they get into trouble, so our role is to help them nicely grow up into good, honest and hard-working young men and women..."

"Wow Mendoza, I wouldn't have said it any better..." Don Alejandro admiringly approved. "You are in fact a very wise man."

"Indeed," Victoria softly added. "The padres did a nice job with you, they can be proud."

And just like that, she stood on tiptoes and unexpectedly dropped a quick kiss on the Sergeant's cheek.

Diego felt more than a bit jealous and for a split second he dreamed that he had been at the receiving end of this gentle kiss. He came back to reality when Felipe kicked his shin under the table. _Ow!_

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

"Hey, it hurt!" he discretely complained to his young friend when they crossed the plaza to their horses, a good thirty feet behind Don Alejandro.

Felipe mischievously signed something and Diego humphed.

"I was _not_ drooling."

But Felipe nodded insistently, visibly amused.

"No, I was simply surprised by Victoria's behaviour, just like Father was."

Felipe retorted that Don Alejandro's surprise turned into a chuckle while Diego had simply gawked like an idiot with a rather stupid smile on his lips.

"Oh, stop it! Now let's go home and have lunch," he grumbled, "I'm hungry."

Felipe looked surprised and asked him if he didn't want to stop by at the mission before that.

"The mission? We were there earlier before Mass, have you already forgotten?"

But Felipe rolled his eyes. He thought Diego would like to have a few words with both Julio and Filomena before coming back home.

"Why then?"

Well, it was obvious to Felipe: because these two quarrelled and fought about Zorro of course!

"So what? I didn't make them quarrel, I'm not even the one who had the idea of turning Zorro's outfit into a child's toy!"

But Felipe frowned. Diego started Zorro, and even though he couldn't have thought about this kind of outcome it was now more or less his responsibility to see that Zorro was put only to good use rather than be the ground of quarrels between kids who admire him...

"Responsibility?" Diego murmured. "I didn't tell this girl to jump at this boy's throat and bite him, nor did I tell him to hit her – and me, for that matter! Look, I've got a bruise on my jaw where his wooden stick hit me..."

But Felipe simply folded his arms and looked at him sternly. _Responsibility_ , yes. Not shirking it.

Diego sighed.

"You have really grown too wise, you know. All right, I'm going there. I'll see you and father at home, tell him I forgot something at the mission."

And before they reached their horses he added with a chuckle:

"Isn't it a weird reversal of the roles? I feel like I am the mischievous and carefree teenager while you are the annoyingly responsible grown-up who reminds me to behave..."

Felipe rolled his eyes but chuckled too.

"In fact, it seems you have spent too much time with my father, he has rubbed off on you: _'Responsibility, Diego! It is time you take responsibility'_. I swear, you're sounding just like him!" he paused and smiled.

 _Sounding?_ Felipe winked.

"Well, you know what I mean..." Diego said rolling his eyes, "just a manner of speaking, if I dare say so. But on a more serious note, he can be very proud of the result: you grew up very nicely, my young friend!"

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

"When I was little," Julio was telling Mendoza, "I asked the Three Kings to bring me a Papá and a Mamá, and a real home like other children. But now I am a big boy, I know they can't give us that and I tell the younger children here so. So a Zorro costume is good too. I would like to be Zorro later, when he is too old for that."

Diego heard the child's words when he walked down the corridor to the boy's small dormitory and suppressed a chuckle. He reached the room and found Mendoza sitting in front of the boy, each on a straw mattress on the floor. He knocked on the already open door.

"May I come in, or do I intrude...?"

"That's alright Don Diego," Mendoza answered, "come in and share a bit of chat with my young friend Julio here and myself... I am sure you can make us benefit of your experience of having such a wise father as Don Alejandro..."

Diego felt a bit out of place here, considering the fact that the two other persons there had the experience of being raised in an orphanage without parents, while he was raised by his father, in wealth...

But now that he had asked for their permission and was just granted it, he couldn't run away... He sat down and tried to find something to tell the boy, thinking about what Mendoza just said.

"Indeed I have been very lucky, you are right..." he began. "My father is the kindest person I know, although he is often a bit too strict..."

Julio watched him strangely.

"Does he still punish you sometimes, Don Diego?"

He seemed to find really strange that a fully grown man could still be disciplined or punished like a mischievous boy.

"No, but he still scolds me," Diego replied with a sincere sigh.

"I didn't know grown-ups still did silly things... Do you really, Don Diego?"

Diego had a sad smile.

"Yes and no... Let's say that I am generally not up to his expectations."

Julio thought about this explanation for a minute before he stated:

"Still, it must be good to have a Papá, I think."

Diego looked at Mendoza who was gently smiling his silent agreement, and he too smiled.

"You are right Julio, it is good to have him, even when he scolds me..."

He looked at the child and tilted his head.

"Julio... do you envy me for that?" he asked. "For having a father?"

Julio shook his head.

"Are you sure?" Diego insisted. "That would be understandable, you know..."

The boy confirmed, not looking him in his eyes though.

Fortunately, Mendoza got Diego's train of thought and guessed his point, so he told Julio:

"Really? That would be normal after all... _I_ , for instance, feel a bit envious of Don Diego... He had a family... he doesn't lack money... and he doesn't have to answer to the alcalde on a daily basis! It doesn't mean I don't like him, Julio, but it is only human..."

Julio seemed to hesitate.

"Uh... well, perhaps... Maybe I envy him a bit for having a Papá..." He finally reluctantly admitted.

"...because I have something you don't have..." Diego suggested.

Julio nodded.

"Then perhaps now you can understand that Filomena felt envious too when you got this outfit and she didn't..."

"Hmmmm... P'haps..." he begrudgingly conceded. "Yeah..." he finally admitted.

Diego and Mendoza silently shared a look and a smile.

"Good," the sergeant said. "Then, will you lend your gift to Filomena this afternoon?"

Julio shook his head.

"No," he answered, "we are both grounded, separately, for the rest of the day..."

"Tomorrow, then?"

He shrugged.

"Perhaps. If she _kindly_ asks me to."

"I am sure Zorro will be happy with you sharing your things with the other children," Diego told him.

Julio nodded slowly, visibly deep in thought.

"Don Diego... Sergeant..." he finally said, "don't you think it would be nice to have Zorro for a father?"

Mendoza didn't seem too keen on the idea, and Diego almost choke on his own saliva. He suddenly felt... both extremely flattered and more than a bit afraid. He was absolutely not expecting _that_.

"I'm not sure," Mendoza diplomatically said.

"I... uh... am perfectly happy with the father I already have," Diego mumbled, "and I wouldn't exchange him for any other."

"Of course, but I don't have any already," Julio logically said, "so I'd like him to be my Papá: he'd teach me how to fence, and everyone would be afraid of him so they would never do anything against me."

Just at this moment, right on time to dispense Diego from having to find a suitable response, young Flavio entered with a plate of stew, a piece of bread and a glass of water.

"Here, Julio, Sister Maricruz asked me to bring you lunch."

And he put it down beside Julio.

"Gracias Flavio."

"De nada. Er... Julio?"

"Yes?"

"Can I try your Zorro's outfit once you're not grounded anymore? I'll lend you the bow and arrows I just received. I'd like to play being Zorro too."

"Being Zorro? But you can't, you're Indian!"

"So what?" Flavio asked, not getting the point.

"Indeed Julio," Mendoza asked, "so what?"

Diego sighed. Zorro would have to pay the boy a visit tonight, perhaps he'd listen to him better than he was listening to them...

"We are going to leave you to your meal, Julio," he told the boy.

"Yes," the sergeant agreed, "I have to go to Filomena now. But use the rest of your day here to think about what happened this morning, and about the short talk we just had... Don Diego, would you come with me?"

"Yes, I was going to ask just that. Flavio, can you show us the way to the girls' bedroom?"

But Flavio shook his head:

"I don't have the right to go there, Señores."

"Of course, but you certainly know where it is... You could just show us which door it is, right?"

Flavio thought hard for at least five seconds.

"Yes, I think so."

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

"So, tell me Filomena, do you think it was the right thing to do to attack Julio like you did?"

"No, of course not," the girl sheepishly admitted.

"Good," Mendoza said. "And why...?" he prompted her, wanting her to say herself that violence was not a good way to solve quarrels and to react to frustration.

"Because I am a girl," Filomena unexpectedly answered. "Girls are not supposed to fight."

" _No one_ is supposed to fight!" Diego retorted, both sincere and playing his part as the violence-hating peaceful Don Diego de la Vega.

" _Zorro_ fights," the child replied with stars in her eyes. "I'd like to be like him when I am a grown-up."

Again, Diego was speechless. First out of surprise, and then because he couldn't find anything to oppose to the girl's logic.

Mendoza, as for him, wasn't too pleased and was beginning to be fed up at the children's obvious worship of his adversary.

"Zorro, Zorro..." he grumbled, "It's all about him, now. Can't you kids think about anything else? What happened to wanting to be a soldier and wear a nice uniform, for instance?"

"Zorro doesn't help the meanies," she retorted.

"But we _have_ to obey the alcalde," the sergeant almost pleaded, "we are bound to it!"

"Good reason for not wanting to be a soldier, then," Filomena replied with her childish indisputable logic. "Zorro doesn't have to obey _anyone_ ," she emphatically stated with a dreamy smile. "And he has the most beautiful horse I have ever seen. And a sword, and no one can ever catch him!"

"I am sure he has to obey someone," Diego said.

"Do you think he has a boss?" Mendoza asked, suddenly interested. "A partner in crime?"

Diego hastily shook his head, not wanting anyone to be suspected and arrested because of him. And what if they discovered that Felipe was in league with Zorro? He blanched a bit and tried to change the subject.

"No, but I meant that Zorro certainly has to obey his own conscience. It can be a demanding master to any man, you know."

Mendoza looked sceptical.

"To most people, perhaps. But Zorro's conscience doesn't stop him from hitting me or my men, or from robbing the alcalde's office."

"He is not a thief!" Filomena vibrantly defended her new role model, "the padre explained us he simply takes back what the alcalde has unjustly taken from other people. And he doesn't keep it for himself, he gives it back to those it was initially taken from!"

Diego beamed inwardly, glad that the child stood up for him. It helped him feel less guilty after what the sergeant said.

"Humph, next thing she is going to tell us that she too would like to have Zorro for her father..." Mendoza grumbled with a sigh.

The girl looked at him surprised, with her eyebrows raised high up to the middle of her forehead.

"No, what a weird idea! Certainly not!"

Wow, that was a cry from the heart, to say the least. Diego felt a bit hurt by the child's rather vehement statement but he hid it well and asked:

"Really? Why then?"

"Well, I wouldn't want him to leave me at night to go put himself at risk. I'd rather have parents who stay home after their day's work and take care of me. It must be nice to have someone tuck you in every night, and tell you a bedtime story or give you a cuddle and a goodnight kiss. Here at the mission the nuns and the padre are very nice, but they are also very busy and we are too many: they can't tuck each of us in or give us a cuddle every night..."

Diego remembered his own childhood, and the nice time he had with his parents.

"So no," Filomena went on, "I wouldn't like to have a Papá like Zorro. And I would be far too afraid for him, for his safety, every time he fights or even every time I go to bed. I don't envy his family, they must be dead scared for him..."

Mendoza looked at her pensively.

"You are a very wise young girl," he told her.

Diego mused on what Filomena just said, and he couldn't help but agree: he was glad that he didn't tell his father about Zorro, otherwise Don Alejandro would worry himself sick each time Diego donned the mask.

Unfortunately it also confirmed his suspicion that he wouldn't be able to start a family until he is done with fighting the alcalde's misdeeds and abuses, so in other words as long as he had to keep Zorro alive. At first it didn't seem really important, because he thought it would just take only one or two months before they can rejoice that justice and sweet life have been restored, before he can tell his father and everyone else that he had been this Zorro everyone had been wondering about. But now, Diego was beginning to think that it would take much more time than initially expected... Probably more than one year, perhaps even two...? Damn, if he had known... And meanwhile, everyone in Los Angeles was convinced that Diego de la Vega was a nice but inept, clumsy, fearful, fainthearted and carefree young and rich idler...

He sighed.

"I know it was wrong to attack Julio, Sergeant," Filomena told Mendoza. "And... I regret I did so." She paused, visibly apprehensive and worried. "Have you come to send me to jail, Señor Mendoza?"

 _What?_ Oh, children, really...

"No Filomena, no. And in a way you are already more or less a prisoner right now, aren't you? Julio told me that you were both grounded for the rest of the day."

She silently confirmed.

"I won't bring you to jail," the sergeant went on. "But just know that it is indeed a bad thing to do, attacking and hitting someone who wasn't physically harming you... It can sometime be a reason to be arrested and put in jail for a few days or weeks – but only for grown-ups!" he hastily explained when he saw the fearful look on her face.

"That is why it is important that those who raise children know how to explain this to you," Diego said, "and this is also why they sometimes have to punish you, to make you realise what is wrong, what you won't be allowed to do later either... It does not mean that they don't love you. Comprendes?" he gently asked.

Filomena nodded, and Diego and Mendoza exchanged a relieved look.

"And believe me, although the padre and the nuns are not your parents of course, they love you very much. I know that," Mendoza added.

Diego inwardly thought that one day, Jaime Mendoza would certainly make a wonderful father... if only Zorro stopped ridiculing him in the eyes of all of Los Angeles, and more precisely of the marriageable women around! He swore to himself that from now on, he would go less heavy on the sergeant who really deserved better.

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

"You are very good to children, Sergeant," Diego said when they got out of the mission and were walking toward the plaza.

"Gracias Don Diego. I just know what orphans like them can feel, so it helps. I remember being that age you know, and what sometimes crosses their minds can be rather strange!"

"Oh yes, I remember when Felipe was still a little boy, just before I left. He still had trouble expressing his thoughts through signs, but sometimes _we_ were the ones left speechless by the weird ideas he could have about rather mundane things..."

"I know what you mean, Don Diego. One day, it was roughly two years ago I'd say, he told me and Señorita Escalante that once you got home from Madrid you'd teach him how to fence like a master and you'd train him! _You!_ Can you imagine that?"

Mendoza laughed heartily and Diego swallowed back his hurt.

"Indeed," he confirmed. "Children sometimes really have their own weird train of thought..." he half-heartedly agreed.

"Oh look, Don Diego!" Mendoza said, pointing a finger at the plaza. "The mailcoach has arrived! I'm going to check whether there is any mail for the alcalde... or with some luck, a letter saying he is dismissed from his position and replaced by a more _normal_ alcalde..." he added with a wink.

Diego laughed, but then Mendoza feared he has just talked far too freely.

"I promise I won't repeat a word of what you just said, Sergeant," he told him as they reached the coach, joining there Victoria who was already reading her own mail and holding a small parcel in her other hand.

"Oh, there is this parcel for you Don Diego," she told him, handing him the rectangular brown thing in her hand. "I didn't know you were still in the pueblo, I was going to keep it at the tavern until your next visit."

"Gracias Victoria," he thanked her, taking the parcel and looking happily at it.

His present for Felipe had finally arrived! Right on time! Well, _almost_ right on time. Everything was finally perfect!

And on another note, he had recently discovered a new side of Sergeant Mendoza: the man was a kind and generous person, with a big heart and an excellent contact with children. He got on well with them and understood them rather well, but in a way it was logical: part of him had remained a child, so to speak!

But more importantly, Diego rejoiced that he too had received a valuable gift on this Day of the Kings: he had made a new friend in the person of Jaime Mendoza!

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

The sergeant was beaming: not only did the children have a nice Twelfth Night and a pleasant breakfast for Kings' Day, but he had also discovered that Diego de la Vega shared his will to make life better for the orphans of the mission. So of course yes, Don Diego wasn't the most courageous or feisty man ever, far from it, but he cared even for the underclass, for the forsaken children... And he spoke to him like he understood him.

Mendoza smiled: this year Epiphany had been perfect. And it brought him a new friend.


	5. Ch 5 : Epilogue

**Chapter 5 : Epilogue**

Felipe eagerly tore the brown kraft paper and discovered the gift Diego had chosen for him: _La Historia de Gil Blas de Santillana._

"I read it when I was in Madrid. A good friend of mine, Zafira, had this novel and lent it to me. I thought you'd like it and I finally managed to find a Spanish translation of it, so I ordered it for you."

Felipe smiled. Of course he wasn't really a child anymore but he liked novels and adventures; and he also knew how precious books were: it was a rather expensive gift Diego had just offered him.

Felipe's smile was all Diego needed to put a final perfect point to this beautiful Día de Reyes.

"Let's have lunch now," he told Felipe. "And just before siesta," he added in a whisper, "we'll go down and check on Tornado: Zorro will make a short and discreet courtesy call to the orphanage tonight..."

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

Zorro silently crept into the mission, down the hallway and into the boy's dormitory. Through the darkness he relied on his memory of the place he saw just a few hours earlier to try to navigate his way through the room without banging into a bed and waking everyone.

He reached the bed whose occupant he had come to see and gently laid his gloved hand on what was probably the boy's shoulder. He squeezed it and shook it a little bit.

"Julio..." he whispered, "Julio!"

The child stirred but Zorro moved his hand to gently put it on the boy's mouth.

"Shh! Don't be afraid Julio, it's Zorro. Wake up, niño."

"Zorro?" Julio asked sleepily, a bit too loud.

"Shhh!" Zorro repeated. "Let's not awaken the others."

"Is it really you?" Julio whispered. "Really for real?"

Zorro smiled.

"Really for real," he confirmed.

Julio sat up straight.

"Is there somewhere we could go to talk quietly?"

Julio rubbed his eyes and answered:

"Come with me."

He got up from his bed and dragged his hero to the hallway, where he simply sat down on the floor. Zorro did the same.

"I heard you got an outfit very similar to this one, today?" Diego murmured pointing to the sleeve of his own shirt.

Julio nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes, and a sword too," he answered. "Not a real one of course, a wooden one. But no whip."

"And one of your friends here wanted to try it on too, or so I've been told."

"I had just received it, she could have waited!"

"And you two fought."

Julio looked down.

"Yes, but..."

"But...?"

"But she's a girl, couldn't she be happy with her brand new toy tea set? And she even pounced on me..."

"So it was enough of a reason for you to hit her and Don Diego with the wooden sword?"

"I know I shouldn't have..." he said very sheepish and awkward. "I know it was wrong. But she had been mean–"

"Indeed you shouldn't have."

Julio sighed.

"Tomorrow I will lend her the mask, the cape, the sword and everything. I already promised Sergeant Mendoza to do so."

"Good. And what about little Flavio wanting to try it on too?"

Julio's head shot up:

"Everyone wants me to lend them my present, now! But it's _mine!_ That's enough that I have to lend it to Filomena tomorrow although she is a girl and can never be Zorro for real," Julio grumbled, "but Flavio now? That's ridiculous, he is Indian!"

"So what?" Zorro asked, echoing Flavio's and Mendoza's earlier question.

But this time, through the slits of his mask the intensely piercing look in his eyes almost bore a hole through Julio all the way to his soul, and the little boy lowered his head.

"Well..." the child murmured rather uneasily, "I simply meant... since he is an Indian... he can never be Zorro either... 'tis all..."

He tentatively looked at Zorro who was tilting his head with his eyes still staring at the boy.

"Hmmm..." the outlaw let out. "Why then...?"

Julio's eyes grew wide with incomprehension.

"Why what?" he asked, clearly at a loss.

Zorro suppressed a sigh. _Children!_

"Why couldn't he be Zorro later? Or anyone else who happens to be an Indian, for that matter?"

"Well, because... er..." Julio seemed to think hard about it for the very first time, "because... in fact... er..." He paused and seemed to be deep in thought again. "I don't really know, but it is simply how it is."

Zorro folded his arms.

"Perhaps because most people think Indians are lesser people..." he suggested. "Do you think that Flavio is a lesser person than you are? Or little Jorge, or Ana Rosa?"

Julio looked like he was in agony. It was never the same when general principals were suddenly applied to the people you knew and were close to.

"No... no, of course not," Julio slowly admitted.

"Do you think that Indians are not courageous enough to be Zorro?"

"No, no, most of them are brave I think!"

"So perhaps you think they don't ride well enough?"

"Of course not, everyone knows they are excellent riders!"

"Do you think they can't fight? They can't learn how to fence?"

"No, I suppose everyone can learn fencing if they are taught well..."

"So...?" Zorro asked.

"So... I don't know", the child replied. "It simply sounds like a weird idea, an Indian Zorro..."

Under his mask, Diego frowned. Then he had an idea:

"Julio, what makes you so sure I'm not an Indian...?"

The boy tilted his head to the side, clearly pondering whether his hero was pulling his leg.

"Would it change anything, in your eyes?" Diego asked.

"Er...I don't think so... Except that... you are not an Indian anyway, are you?"

"Who knows..." Zorro cryptically answered. "Do you think my moustache is too blond for instance?"

Julio giggled.

"Blond? Certainly not. So I guess that yes, perhaps you are an Indian after all... Or a Mestizo. Are you?"

Diego smiled.

"I won't tell. No one must know who I am. Too dangerous a knowledge, for everyone involved. But as you just said, Zorro could just as well be an Indian. Or a Mestizo, or a Spaniard alike."

"Or even a woman..." Julio added earnestly. "Like Filomena perhaps, when she is older."

Diego pulled a face. A woman? Taking his place? His mission? What a strange idea...

But talking about Filomena, he remembered he had another visit to make tonight.

"Good," he simply told the boy. "Now go back to bed Julio, and have a good night's sleep. Sweet dreams my young friend!"

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

"Shh! Don't be afraid, young lady! It's me, Zorro..."

Diego slowly removed his hand from Filomena's mouth and took seat on the edge of her hay mattress.

"Zorro?" the girl repeated, sounding a bit fearful.

He felt her small hands tentatively grab his upper arms and go up his shoulders, then his neck, his face, and when her fingers found the mask she said:

"It's really you!"

"Not so loud, Filomena!" he whispered, gently grabbing her wrists to take her hands away from his face. "You are going to wake the other girls..."

He couldn't see her nod but supposed she did, and apparently she complied because next second her voice was barely audible when she whispered sheepishly:

"You have come to punish me, right?"

Taken aback, Diego didn't reply immediately.

"What? No! Why would I punish you?" he finally whispered back.

She sighed – out of relief or acceptance, he couldn't tell – and she explained:

"Because I have been mean to Julio today, I thought you came for that. Usually you punish the meanies or send them to jail, don't you?"

Diego smiled.

"I do, when I can, but my role is not to raise children... and certainly not to punish them when their parents or the adults who raise them already did so... I haven't come to put you in jail, Filomena."

Despite the darkness he sensed that the girl pushed on her hands to sit up on her mattress.

"Really?"

He nodded but she couldn't see it.

"Really," he confirmed.

Filomena relaxed and silence fell between them, but it wasn't an awkward silence at all.

"So why are you here?" she finally dared ask. "Are you hiding from the soldiers outside?"

He smiled.

"No. I have come for you. I heard what happened between you and Julio today, and you have already been punished for that. But I needed to understand: why would you want to be me?"

"You are strong," Filomena replied immediately. "Except for the alcalde, no one dares try to harm you or make fun of you, and people like you. And you help everyone. And you can fight, and you absolutely _always_ win. And... and you have the most beautiful horse ever."

She paused and Diego didn't know what to answer. He reflected that since the beginning of the day, he realised that he really didn't know how to react with children, what to tell them. He supposed it meant that he wasn't really ready for parenthood yet. But could anyone really ever be...?

"When I am older," Filomena went on, "I'd like to know how to fight for myself. And to stand up for others too. And I'd like to have a horse like yours. But I know of course that this is all a dream, it can never happen: I am an orphan with no family, I can never be rich. And such a beautiful horse as yours must be so expensive! And I can never learn how to fight either. Girls are not taught that, and the poor are not taught fencing anyway, so there is not a chance for me..."

Diego frowned, but he didn't want to lie to the girl: she was right: she was an orphan, and poor, and a girl: the best she could expect in adulthood was to find a position as a housemaid in a good and kind family, and she was already aware of it. She didn't own anything so there was little chance she'd marry a farmer who owns his own patch of dry land and works it for a living. She'd more probably marry either another fellow servant or a tenant farmer, a peon.

And even the mighty Zorro couldn't change that.

Diego sighed. But then he smiled. He couldn't change her future, okay, but at least he could do something for her present. And in fact he had come here tonight exactly for that.

"Filomena, there isn't much I can do for you to ever own a horse like Tornado, but right now, I can tuck you in if you want."

"Really? You have the time for that?"

Diego hesitated: each minute spent in the pueblo as Zorro was an additional danger. But he liked far too much playing with fire when he was wearing this outfit. He suddenly understood the appeal this guise had in the eyes of these children. Perhaps _he_ too was still a child, after all. No grown-up in his right mind would have come up with such an idea, and no responsible adult would have let it go on like this for so many months!

He smiled at himself. What a fool he was being...

"I will take the time. Slip back under the cover, now."

Filomena happily complied and Diego pulled her blanket up to her chin.

"Once upon a time," he murmured, "there was a little boy named... er... _Jaime_. Jaime didn't have parents, but he had been granted an incredible gift: he had an inexhaustible source of joy in his heart. And one day..."

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

 _Always the same,_ Diego inwardly lamented. A year had passed and nothing had changed: he was still late on the schedule, the presents were not wrapped yet, once again he ordered Felipe's gift too late to receive it on time, and to top it all this year both his father and Victoria had flatly refused to impersonate the Wise Men until Diego changed the formula for his glue and tested it on someone else than them.

So now here he was, hidden in one of the tavern's bedrooms, looking at how he just transformed Sergeant Mendoza into some oriental-looking majestic dignitary.

He sighed as Felipe was applying the glue to his cheeks. The boy frowned and raised his mentor's chin up with his knuckle, making a clucking noise with his tongue. _Don't move_ , it meant.

Once Felipe was done with the glue, he applied the fake beard on it. Diego watched the young man's face while he was doing that: Felipe was already proudly sporting his thick beard and the contrast with his obviously juvenile features was creating a rather weird impression, but if even Victoria could look like one of the Three Kings from a distance the previous year, with Felipe it certainly could do the trick too...

Diego looked through the window: outside on the plaza the orphans from the mission were making the most of the last rays of sunlight to play rather excitedly. A short girl – Ana Rosa? yes, probably – had donned Julio's Zorro outfit and was threatening a much taller Flavio who appeared to act like a soldier wanting to catch her. Filomena was cheering them with a few others and playing panpipes. A little bit further, Jorge was making an interesting use of Filomena's tea set: he was now happily using a tin toy saucepan as a drum and was hitting it with the miniature wooden spoon. It was making quite a racket so Sister Lucia soon came to make it stop and she gathered all her children for dinner.

z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z ~ z

Sister Maria de la Cruz heard a knock and went to open the door. It was now almost dark outside but she recognised the visitor.

"Oh, Don Alejandro, welcome! And merry Twelfth Night to you!"

"Buenas tardes Sister, and thank you. I am bringing oranges for the niños..."

"Come in, come in," the padre told him from inside the room, "Señorita Escalante just brought a big King's cake for the children and stayed to share it with us. Please have a seat and a bite of it with us too."

He entered the room and Victoria understood the signal: Don Alejandro's presence here meant that Sergeant Mendoza, Don Diego and Felipe were about to enter the scene. She looked through the window.

"Oh, look!" she almost shouted, pointing at it, "Los Reyes!"

And on the opposite side of the plaza, as he was slowly riding his fake camel and waving at the mission, Diego thought that he really liked this tradition. Of course life was not perfect, but every year this night was...

 _Fin_


End file.
